According to the French Federation of Ice Sports on Tuesday, 2019 European Figure Skating Champions pair Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres are both retiring from competitive skating.
The French representatives, made up of Canadian-born James and Frenchman Cipres, began their partnership in late 2010 and made their competition debut a year later. Together they have competed in two Winter Olympics, placing tenth in 2014 and fifth in 2018. The couple won bronze medals at the 2018 World Championship and gold medals at the 2019 European Championship.
At the 2019 World Championship, the pair finished in an unexpectedly low fifth position but afterwards said that they will continue to compete for a World title until the 2022 World Championship, which is scheduled to take place in France.
In December of 2019, allegations of sexual harassment were brought up against Cipres from two year earlier. A disciplinary committee of the French Federation did not sanction the athlete.
Last season, the pair of 33-year-old James and 29-year-old Cipres withdrew from both assignments of the ISU Grand Prix series and have not competed since.
